Sweetbitter

A Novel

"Reginald Gibbons's first novel takes place in east Texas in 1910 during the time of white rule — not by law but by lynch mob. Amid the suffocating racism and fear, half-Choctaw, half-white Reuben Sweetbitter and Martha Clarke, a white woman, fall in love. . . . Reuben and Martha's love is strong, but, dishearteningly, racism is stronger. Timely in the subject of interracial love, this authentic, richly detailed novel plumbs sacrifice, fear, and the loss of one’s identity, bringing the anguish of the two young lovers to life. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

"Far more than a spellbinding love story . . . a novel wide and deep in its understanding. . . . An unforgettable story, a remarkable piece of work."—Dallas Morning News

"I love this novel: it sings, it soars. Simultaneously deft and deep, it brings a lost world back to brilliant light."—Andrea Barrett

"Surprising in every way. . . . The novel's ending is as strong as its beginning — terrifying and beautiful, a true tour de force."—Chicago Tribune

Reginald Gibbons is the author of seven previous volumes of poetry, translations of Spanish and Mexican poetry and ancient Greek tragedy, a short story collection, and a novel, and he served as editor of TriQuarterly from 1981 to 1997. He has won the O. B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and other honors. A native of Texas, he now lives in Evanston, Illinois, where he is a professor of English and classics at Northwestern University.